Obama drops 'enemy combatant' label

Well done, President Obama!

It's about time we dropped all of the fascist militaristic labeling crap that the BushCo Republicans used the last eight years.

Cheney and Bush are going to go down hard for their toturing and assasination programs when this comes out:

Seymour Hersh (top) is one of our greatest living journalists -- the Pulitizer Prize-winner broke the story of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam a generation ago, and he never let up. More recently he helped to break the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. Now it sounds like he's working on the story of a lifetime,:
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"At a "Great Conversations" event at the University of Minnesota last night, legendary investigative reporter Seymour Hersh may have made a little more news than he intended by talking about new alleged instances of domestic spying by the CIA, and about an ongoing covert military operation that he called an "executive assassination ring."

The specifics:
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"Right now, today, there was a story in the New York Times that if you read it carefully mentioned something known as the Joint Special Operations Command -- JSOC it’s called. It is a special wing of our special operations community that is set up independently. They do not report to anybody, except in the Bush-Cheney days, they reported directly to the Cheney office. They did not report to the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff or to Mr. [Robert] Gates, the secretary of defense. They reported directly to him. ..."
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"Congress has no oversight of it. It’s an executive assassination ring essentially, and it’s been going on and on and on. Just today in the Times there was a story that its leaders, a three star admiral named [William H.] McRaven, ordered a stop to it because there were so many collateral deaths."
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"Under President Bush’s authority, they’ve been going into countries, not talking to the ambassador or the CIA station chief, and finding people on a list and executing them and leaving. That’s been going on, in the name of all of us."
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http://www.minnpost.com/ericblackblog/2009/03/11/7310/investigative_reporter_seymour_hersh_describes_executive_assassination_ring
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We'll have to see how far Hersh gets with his reporting, but this is definitely something to keep an eye on in the months ahead. As the Bush administration was winding down, insiders like Hersh and others said that what we knew in 2008 about the horrors of the Bush administration was only the tip of the iceberg, that much more would come out after 1/20/09. This looks like the beginning. If nothing else, these revelations -- if backed up -- should give some muscle to the demands for a Truth Commission so that America, and the world, gets to the bottom of what really happened between 2001 and 2008.

By the way, in case there's any ambiguity on the subject, President Gerald Ford in 1975 signed an executive order that said this: : "No employee of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, political assassination." It's been upheld by every subsequent president. Apparently vice presidents are another matter.

So who defines "substantial"?
Would that be CONGRESS and THE SUPREME COURT?

On February 20, 2009, the Barack Obama Administration sided with the Bush Administration's interpretation of law when they argued to bar access to civil courts sought by enemy combatants......

I know you all love Obama's "pretty words" as opposed to the icky ones like "enemy combatant"....but in the end, rhetoric is still rhetoric.

Don't say Joe Biden didn't warn you!

Where are the indictments?
Where are the indictments of the toturers?
Where are the indictments in the DOJ criminals?
Where are the indictments on Wall Street (besides Made-off) to date?
Where are the indictments for everyone who worked for Cheney and his team of ninja invaders?

Where are the investigative journalists digging deeply as to why there aren't sufficient indictments?

Thank you to the bloggers out there who are asking the questions. We want and need answers damnit. We want and need indictments. We want and need justice if we are to be a nation of laws.

What's the new designation? Friends we haven't met yet?

It's just a name game

Obama bo-bama bo nana bantan bo momma.

What a farce! Nothing changes, it's the same thing but with a different name.

Will the people be fooled?

He has taught Constitutional Law III: Equal Protection and Substantive Due Process, Current Issues in Racism & the Law, and Voting Rights & the Democratic Process. I suppose he wants to ensure the nice, kind folks in gitmo have their equal protection and proper voting rights?

How can Frank James get away with this crap? Bush didn't coin the term "enemy combatant" at all. Thomas Jefferson did when he sent the US Navy to fight the Barbary Pirates. Read a history book, James.

The Wingnuts are frustrated because like all good fascist Republicans they need a militaristic "daddy figure" to tell them what to say and think. All they have right now is Boss Limbaugh and he's more like a drunk uncle than a "daddy figure".

The Republican minions have weak minds so they need a "daddy figure" to tell them what to be afraid of (enemy combatants), never mind whether that fear is rational or not. Now the little Repubs are just lashing out because President Obama and the majority party Dems (who were voted into power overwhelmingly by the American people) are dismantling all of the Bush slogans and talking points that made them feel tough.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUdZnxtKR2A
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So what she would call them. Why don't we go back to terrorist. Or why doesn't the Obama administration hold a contest. The winner gets some bailout money . Or gets to have their own earmark.

Good grief - "former Republican" calls Seymour Hersh one of our greatest living journalists?? I might buy in on that if you would have called him a great fiction writer. And by the way, your info on JSOC is completely wrong the the NYT NEVER let facts stand in the way of a good tale.

Good grief - "former Republican" calls Seymour Hersh one of our greatest living journalists?? I might buy in on that if you would have called him a great fiction writer. And by the way, your info on JSOC is completely wrong the the NYT NEVER let facts stand in the way of a good tale.

The remaking of the BO "War" on Terror continues. Is he going to the the Barney Theme Song to them?
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I'm sure these "enemy combatants" will be nicer to us now - they will probably only saw your neck halfway off if given the opportunity.

I find this situation nothing short of
treason. These wonderful people are soldiers, it doesn't matter if they were not carrying a weapon when caught on the battlefield. Just like our forces we need supply people, and cooks among others, but their all soldiers and are subject to military law, not civilian law, These same people will find their way back to the battlefield just like many of the others that have gone before them. So, Obama get your head out of the sand(Sand is a substitute for another part of the body}. Do something good for our troops and America! Be a MAN not a wimp following the policies of meek.This country and this world will never be safe until these militants are defeated completely not just marginalized.

More form over function and rhetoric over substance

We will know the name of the new residents at GTMO, the terrorists hiding behind children and in mosques as soon as Carville and Greenburg get the name from new focus group and polling data ...

Enemy combatant is a legal term included in the Geneva Conventions (yes plural) and by the way, Professor Obama was wrong about the Heller case.

As usual, the Left sides with the terrorists against the American people. I would like to know what the Left thinks these things should be called? Freedom Fighters? Good Samaritans? Misunderstood individuals?

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Posted by: Blinky | March 14, 2009 3:49 AM
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If anything is pure, then what you wrote is pure nonsense. Republicans and conservatives aren't fascists and they aren't interested in being afraid. Bigger government with more governmental control over our daily lives is more indicative of fascism than any other phenomenon in American politics. And, no, conservatives and Republicans aren't upset that Obama defeated McCain. The vast majority have gotten over the election. (Have you?)
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The problem conservatives and Republicans have is that they can see the wheels coming off the bus because of the ever increasingly irresponsible and unrealistic actions of the Obama administration. It's like I've said all along: We have no adult leadership in Washington and the November election didn't solve that problem.
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This business about dropping the “enemy combatant" label is just another example of the Obama administration doing nothing or moving backwards in an effort to look like they are addressing a problem. Changing labels has never changed a problem or offered any meaningful analysis. The administration still needs to figure out what to do with all those people cooling their heels in Guantanamo who were involved in belligerent activity against us. If the best they can do is drop a label, that’s evidence they are clueless.

As reported in the Tribune today, Obama changes the term but still reserves the right to detain and hold people indefinitely. The policy hasn't changed. Only the rhetoric.

We'll need to elect Jack Bauer in 2012 to straighten this crap out. Much is made today about "thinking outside of the box" but it seems to me that some people would benefit more from thinking outside of their a** because it's evident they are speaking more sh*t than anything else.
The underpinnings of a complete human being, although displayed here in verbal fashion seem to be a little weak to be of much use. I think America needs some serious insensitivity training to better compete in the global society.
Get to work on your dark side folks because it's there for a reason.

We've had 8 years of the dark side Rob. Look where that got us.

Cheryl,
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It got us where al Qeada hasn't attcked us in 7.5 years. Unlike before 9-11 when the WTC was attacked in 1993, USS Cole was bombed, and the Khobar Towers were bombed.

Cheryl-Not sure who said it but: "All's fair in love and war" to me rings most true. Rules for war are the epitome of stupidity and largely a contrivance passed on from the most powerful down to the least able to fight back on the same level in an effort to fill in some gaps at the lower levels. This is why we see guerrilla warfare, insurgencies, illegal combatants, suicide bombers and so on occur because it is the only way to compete with some entity more powerful than you. To me it's entirely understandable and our response is what? They are cowards and this is unfair and it's against the Geneva Convention.
Well you know what? If I were them and I had been indoctrinated into believing that I would have a bunch of virgins awaiting me on the other side if I just did my part to defeat the Great Satan I might say let's do it. But, unfortunately, and as you may or may not have gathered, I'm really not the type to be indoctrinated by very much these days.
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We're not better than anyone else on this planet even if we say we are. We're just not in a situation that requires the use of desperate measures but it doesn't mean that we are not capable of them. The difference as I see it is that these people are taught from early on that you are the enemy and they will not hesitate to kill you whereas you and I will hesitate until we determine whether or not they are the enemy. Result: we're dead.
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This country is being torn apart from everywhere and not just from outside forces.
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Do you have kids Cheryl? What if one of them where kidnapped by two or three men and you happened to catch and restrain one of them? Would you call Barack Obama or Jack Bauer to help you.
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I'll tell you this...I'd make Jack look like a boy scout.

Phase II of Obama's terrorist rehabilitation program? Teach them the Barney song: "I love you, you love me..."

Obama's decision to curtail Presidential powers to detain is an historical water-shed event. If indeed implemented that decision will invite more human rights discourse in the sphere of counter-terrorism where usually states are abusing their powers.